Obscurity of The Flames
It was another hazy day in the Land of Fire. In a small town in the outskirts of Konohagakure, all was not silent. The sound of sirens screamed throughout the town as the local police force arrived at the scene of a crime. "A bank robbery sir." one policeman reported to the chief who had just arrived. "Another ambitious son of a bitch eh?", he said, speaking as if this were a common crime that happened every other day. Taking a moment to respond, the reporting officer followed, "Uhh, no sir. Our man inside said that it's a group of civilians who suddenly took arms, and threatened to kill everyone unless they were given ALL the money in the bank." Inside the bank were more than fifteen random people who seemed to have no relationship with one another but were acting as one organized group. In order to prevent any heroic acts, those behind the counter were pierce by several kunai, though nothing fatal. Several of them kept guard surveying the hostages, while others began to were breaking into the vaults to load the cash. Back outside the officers outside began to request for shinobi from Konohagakure. Upon coming to the conclusion that their targets were clearly influenced through unnatural means, it was clearly out of their league. "How long till they get here?" the chief demanded feeling the pressure. "Ten minutes sir." he spat cautiously, knowing well that was not the answer his boss wanted to hear. "Well shit, by that time the real thief will probably be long gone." The officers did not wait long. After two minutes, three shadows appear from a distance. They were moving fluently throughout the town and onto the roofs of the buildings, they're clearly trained shinobi. In a matter of a few seconds, the three shadows became clearly visible as they jump in front of the officers. Two of them were dressed in the formal ANBU uniform, covering their faces in masks of animals, one resembled a fox and the other resembled a bird. The third member of this group is clearly the leader as his stance implies so. Moving in front of the two and being dressed in a different uniform. The man has some remarkable traits, the most noteworthy is his crimson eyes. He wears a white kimono with a fishnet shirt. He wears white pants that are tied with black bandages around the shins. Additionally a black bandage around his waist. He wears a red scarf that contrasts with his crimson eyes. The man scans the surroundings with his sharp eyes, analyzing the situation quickly, to backup the vague report he received. He finally decides to speak as everyone is anxious and glaring at him and his teammates in awe. "We're the Konohagakure team that was dispatched to aid this town. You're talking to the leader of the team, Konohagakure Jōnin, Shōhei Kagerō" the man speaks in a cold and dull tone. "I require a swift and detailed report about the situation in order for me to begin the pursuit. Any small detail would help." he continues as he stands in a relaxed manner as if he's not concerned with the situation at hand, yet he appears firm and frightening to a certain degree. He didn't even identify his comrades and they didn't utter a word. "Three...the Leaf sent three Jonin level shinobi to deal with the situation.....Interesting." the menace thought, working within the shadows, watching as his puppets successful carried out his mission. It was not everyday that people met shinobi of such stature. Actually most villages would be unable to dispatch such a strong group of shinobi without much notice or information on the situation. But Konohagakure, the strongest of the Five Great Nations, has increased in strength in recent years allowing them to extend their resources to others. Upon detetcing these three shinobi, a huge grin emerged on the man's face. "How exciting!" As the three shinobi arrived and assessed the situation, a loud scream from what sounded like a young girl was released from the bank. Then, BOOM, and explosion went off, covering a section of the bank in rubble and ash. Despite being peacekeepers, the policemen were hesitant to move, fearing for their own lives. Paralyzed in fear, they gazed towards the three shinobi of the leaf who have come to assist them. "Please....please save them." a man said, falling to his knees. "My w-wife....I think my wife is in there!" he yelled as tears rolled along his face. As citizens and policemen alike watched in fear waiting for the Leaf Shinobi to take charge, inside a group of civilians were stacking the cash and gold. Despite not making any form of communication, the group was moving as one unit, swiftly completing the task without fail. It would only be a few more minutes until all the valuables would be ready to be taken. Upon hearing the violent explosion and the cries of the weeping man, the three flicker in front of the bank. Before entering, Shōhei takes a glimpse at his comrades with his sharp gaze. "Tread carefully and watch your backs." he utters as the two nod in approval. The three flicker once more and appear inside the collapsing building, standing on the ceiling and dangling upside down. The two shinobi maintained a crouching position, while Shōhei was dangling and crossing his arms, observing the unusual sight in front of him. The bird-masked ANBU is startled by the sight "Captain! There they are lets strike!" he says in an anxious tone as he's eager for the signal to attack. On the contrary, Shōhei is not startled at all, yet he maintains his impassive facial expression. He remains silent for a few seconds "... No." he says. His comrades are surprised at his reaction. The robbers are standing in front of them and their captain is denying them the opportunity to attack. "Captain! We have to act fast before anymore civilians are lost in this ruckus!" the fox-masked ANBU says in a tone not less anxious than his friend. Yet Shōhei isn't concerned about them. He's trying to analyze the situation as swiftly as possible. "Well that's odd." says Shōhei. "Huh?" the ANBU members are confused. "They seem to be instilled with someone's will." says Shōhei as his comrades remain silent for a few seconds. "Instilled... With someone's will?" the fox questions. Shōhei gives them a glimpse and nods "Indeed." he then returns his sight to the scene in front of him. "Normally in a bank robbery, one would not be organized in this manner. In fact, they seem to move in perfect synchronization as if they're being controlled. As if they're puppets. It's also drawn to my attention that they were not startled by our sudden intrusion, in fact they didn't care much. They don't even speak to each other..." he says to his comrades. "Something's off." he continues. "Now there's quite a few hypothesis we need to take in mind. And I believe making a move would narrow them down." he says as he places his hand on his pouch and throws a Kunai at one of the robbers. However, he chose someone who was giving him his back. The Kunai is intended to strike the robber in the back of his head, as it travels, a whistle is created from the sharpness and the speed of the flying projectile. "Now ... Lets observe and see if my guess was correct." he thinks. Without making an effort to dodge, the kunai pierced the head of the man. The sheer force and speed of the blade caused him to fall over. But despite being puncture directly to the skull, he rose once again turning to the three shinobi. Removing the kunai from the back of his head, he span the kunai along his fingers as if he were a skilled shinobi. As the blood oozed down the back of his neck, he remained emotionless, as if he did not feel the trauma that had just occurred. After a couple of seconds, the man leaped towards the three skilled shinobi. Mimicking the physical prowess of a trained shinobi, the man was actually rather fast. Going for the middle one, he raised his kunai to strike the neck of the man. But once he was within the about meter of the team, he'd detonate. The hostages were petrified as limbs and blood scattered across the crumbling building. As the blood of their comrade stained their clothes and skin, the team continued to work as if nothing had happened, unphased by what had just transpired. One civilian yelled, "How can you just stand there. He was your friend, how could you just let him die like that, and not even acknowledge that!" Without hesitation, one of the men watching the hostages grabbed the woman by the throat then kicked her into the wall with tremendous strength. Unprepared for such a powerful assassult she literately through up he organs and a lot of blood. With all the money taken from every vault, one of the men pulled out a seal. Somehow, despite being a civilian, the man was able to perform ninjutsu, and seal the load of ryō and gold within the scroll. The two ANBU are surprised by the emotionless display of the man who got penetrated by the Kunai, while Shōhei maintained impassive. As the man jumps towards the three shinobi, the two ANBU are startled while Shōhei didn't lift a finger. The man detonates creating a powerful blast and smoke arises. The two shinobi jump out from the smoke, while their leader is sitting on top of a rock, dangling one leg. He already moved due to his exceptional expertise in body flicker. Shōhei observes the behavior of the puppet-like humans. "Hmm" he ponders looking at the traumatizing scene of the innocent woman. He doesn't move an inch or even lift a finger, he's seemingly unaffected by the bloody mess he just witnessed. "I see. Very clever." he speaks out loud. "I have already created a few hypotheses about this odd situation. The first being that these men are being controlled by some sort of will transcription technique. However, that was instantly rolled out after the man withstood a Kunai to the back of the head. The other option was Edo Tensei, yet he didn't regenerate after the detonation and it was very unlikely that one would summon the bodies of normal unskilled civilians." he then chuckles and pauses for a few seconds. "The third option was that it was some sort of ripped off reanimation technique, turning the dead bodies into puppets. However, that's also false as they appear very much alive and this man is bleeding, which isn't very likely in a reanimation technique. What's off about this is the general dullness of his comrades and how normal civilians can wield a Kunai like a shinobi let alone detonate without the use of explosive tags. And with no apparent reason. Which leaves me with the final conclusion. Unfortunately I was correct..." the man says as he weaves the confrontation hand seal. Being an expert in the art of chakra flow, Shōhei has full control of the chakra surging in his body. He's able to control it like no other, which is displayed in his body flicker technique. The man suppresses his chakra flow completely to an extent where no drop of chakra is flowing in his system, he then bursts out the chakra instantly. "...Genjutsu." "Excellent, a great display of analysis and deduction." a voice echoed throughout the terrorized building. Everyone, the criminals and hostages alike froze, not even moving an inch. As Shōhei released his chakra, the illusion was faded. Surprisingly, the reality was far more gruesome than the illusion. Any sane person would be disgusted by the sight. Everyone, hostage and criminal was dead, brutally murdered in a various amount of ways. Blood was scattered across the building; the foul stench would make most hurl. It was a horrendous sight. At that moment, a man emerged. There could be no mistaking it. His bright red hair, a tear drop tattoo below his left eye, his pale white skin. It was without a doubt, the most sinister man in the world, supposedly committing every crime to ever exist. Wanted by every nation as the number one target in every Bingo Book, The Most Wanted Criminal in the World, Jushiro Kurama. He stared at the man dangling with a huge grin on his face, well aware that he was the man in charge. "Do you smell it...the smell of blood...Doesn't it..just..energize you." he said, giggling as if someone had just made a joke. "Watching you think was pretty entertaining, but" he took a moment. "As you can probably tell your hypothesis was not one hundred percent correct. But don't worry, you'll get another chance to get it right. " Removing his deck of cards, he began to shuffle. The dead quickly lined up behind him, despite their obvious deceased state. "Now, here's your shot of redemption. What is really going on here Shōhei?" he questioned, curious to see how the man will respond to this little task."I also recommend choosing your next actions very carefully. I wouldn't want anyone else to get hurt." Jushiro exclaimed, gazing upon the two masked ninja ever so swiftly. Shōhei stares at the man for a few seconds. "I see." he says closing his eyelids for a moment. "So it turns out it's a Genjutsu and a cheap reanimation technique." he continues. Assuming his comrades are still under the effect of the Genjutsu, he places his palms on their shoulders and flows chakra into their bodies, which disrupts the control of Jushiro, breaking them out of the Genjutsu. "Huh?" "What the..." the men are surprised by the dramatic change in the scene. "Captain, what's happening?!" the fox questions. Shōhei closes his eyes and ponders. "The red hair and the eye tattoo, this is Jushiro Kurama, a wanted criminal by the authorities." he says coldly. "J-Jushiro of the K-Kurama clan??" says the bird. "Indeed, he's an expert in Genjutsu, which means we need to be very careful. He's known for using visual and audible Genjutsu. Watch out for any suspicious behavior in the environment." Shōhei shifts his vision towards the man, making sure not to gaze into his eyes, keeping his guard. Yet he's as still as a stone. "Speaking of suspicious behaviors, I was wondering when you cast the Genjutsu upon us. However, that was quickly clarified since you knew my name without me addressing it. Thus, I assume the officers or one of the men outside if not all of them are a part of your Genjutsu as I addressed myself only to them." Shōhei explains as his teammates remain silent. Anxiety fumes in the area as the scene of death obscures the three men's sights. "Taking that into account, you could have robbed this place without making a hustle, and you chose to inform Konoha in order to draw us into your trap. I guess you really are insane." he continues. "The prospect of insanity is more appealing than most care to admit. There is a thin line between genius and psychopath, you just decide where you're going to draw that line and when you are going to cross it." he stated, before commencing the next part of the game. Stopping his shuffle, he sat his deck along his left palm with his middle and index fingers of his right preparing to draw a card. "Your intellectual prowess are outstanding, let's see how far I can push them." he paused, before offering the instructions to his next challenge. "The rules of the game are simple, solve the riddle, get rewarded. Don't solve it, get punished....Let's see how smart you leaf shinobi are." he finished, fading away like smoke. The dead also seemed to fade away as their mastered vanished as well. They game had begun. What the game actually entailed was for them to figure out. Jushiro did leave some hints behind though. A single card; the three of hearts specifically, a single corpse; a women who had made her husband a widower, and a note with a riddle on it. "Love is not the present, but future and what it holds.". Shōhei observes the man closely, keeping in mind not to fall under his Genjutsu, monitoring the chakra in the entire place with his unique sensory prowess. Shōhei watches as the man slowly fades into the darkness, leaving a body in his wake. "Huh? What game??! What is that psycho talking about?? We have to get out of here!!!" says the bird mask ANBU, with fear leaking from his voice. It seems he lost hope in his ability to fight the clearly more skilled opponent. Shōhei pays no attention to such nonsense as he continues to ponder. He takes a few steps towards the body, finding a card. "The three of hearts." he whispers. He then reads the suspicious note left by the man. The entire place fumes with death. The smell of fear is reeking from the two ANBU, while the captain stays composed and focused. With his sensory ability, he senses that the body has no chakra flowing in it, which means that it's safe to investigate. However, caution is a necessity. Shōhei takes a few steps back. He weaves a unique hand seal. A puff of smoke obscures the place for a moment as a duplicate emerges from it. Indeed, it's the second hokage's shadow clone technique. Keeping in mind that it's just a decoy, Shōhei gave the clone very little chakra, just enough to maintain his existence. The clone takes a few steps towards the body of the deceased woman. Taking a moment before searching the body to find any useful information. As the clones surveyed the women, Jushiro voice echoed, "I guess to make things a little more interesting....I'm going to have to increase the stakes." he said, before an awfully loud scream was released. This one sounded like a young girl, though a direction could not be pinpointed. "Let's see how dedicated you leaf shinobi truly are. You have 300 seconds, or a pure soul will vanish from this world." he laughed, as his voice slowly faded away, leaving the shinobi five minutes to solve the riddle.